Associated Press
PHOENIX — The U.S. Attorney for Arizona has launched a crackdown on crimes committed on Indian reservations.
Dennis Burke said he began looking at reservation crimes after learning about problems with rape cases on the Navajo Reservation.
Burke said the Justice Department is cross-deputizing tribal prosecutors as federal lawyers to increase the number of cases pursued.
Indian police agencies are also being trained to conduct federal felony investigations. In the past year, nearly 350 tribal officers in Arizona completed a certification course.
Burke says Navajo and Tohono police already are conducting felony investigations and are no longer relying on federal agents.